Electromagnetic counter

ABSTRACT

An electromagnetic counter having an electromagnetic driving means, a reduction gearing connected to the driving means and indicating members such as figure wheel or dial to indicate a count. The reduction gearing includes counting gear assemblies rotated in accordance with a scale such as decimal system, and the counting gear assemblies accumulate the kinetic energy in resilient members such as springs for rotating the indicating members. Each of the indicating members is adapted to be rotated one pitch by the accumulated kinetic energy for every transferring signal from the previous column. In addition the electromagnetic counter is provided with a zero-setting means. To accomplish the zero-setting operation, the reduction gearing is adapted to be disconnected.

United States Patent [72] Inventors NagloMizutlni [54] ELECTROMAGNETICCOUNTER 10 Claims, 1 1 Drawing Figs. [52] US. Cl. 235/137, 235/109,235/144 HC [51 Int. Cl G06c 15/26,

G066 [5142,6060 27/06 50 Field olSeu-eh 235/144HC,109,76,137,91.1,91PR,91.4,91.10

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,769,596 11/1956 LoosliPrimary Examiner-Stephen J. Tomsky Anorney- Howson and Howson ABSTRACT:An electromagnetic counter having an electromagnetic driving means, areduction gearing connected to the driving means and indicating memberssuch as figure wheel or dial to indicate a count. The reduction gearingincludes counting gear assemblies rotated in accordance with a scalesuch as decimal system, and the counting gear assemblies accumulate thekinetic energy in resilient members such as springs for rotating theindicating members. Each of the in dicating members is adapted to berotated one pitch by the accumulated kinetic energy for everytransferring signal from the previous column. In addition theelectromagnetic counter is provided with a zero-setting means. Toaccomplish the zerosetting operation, the reduction gearing is adaptedto be disconnected.

PATENTEU we] 0 Ian SHEET 1 OF 3 PATENTED mm 0197:-

SHEET 2 BF 3 ELECTROMAGNETIC COUNTER This invention relates to anelectromagnetic counter having a plurality of indicating members toindicate a count.

The transferring mechanism in the conventional electromagnetic countercomprises gears, intermittent motion mechanism and others. To performthe transferring of all of the columns, all figure wheels aremechanically and parallel connected to each other and rotated by adriving means at the same time. This means that the driving means issubjected to momentary heavy load. For this reason, the driving meansmust be manufactured to have great power sufiicient to perform thetransferring of the all columns. Therefore the electromagnetic drivingmeans consumes a great quantity of electric power and can not bemanufactured in small size. Additionally, it is difficult to operate thecounter at high speed, because of the great total inertia of the figurewheels, gears, intermittent motion mechanism and others. Further, sincethe figure wheel occasionally vibrates because of backlash of thegearing, the figure is illegible during the operation.

Generally, the zero setting operation of the conventional counter isperformed in the following order.

1. A gear for transferring is removed froma gear integral with thefigure wheel.

2. a reset plate is engaged with a heart-shaped cam integral with thefigure wheel to rotate it to the zero position. v

3. The reset plate is removed from the heart-shaped cam.

4. The transferring gear is engaged again with the gear of the figurewheel.

Since the figure wheel is in unstable condition between the aboveoperations 3 and 4, the figure wheel may be rotated for some reason orother, for example by the oscillation of the counter body. As a resultthe transferring gear may be engaged with an improper portion of thegear of the figure wheel, which will indicate another number exceptzero. Further, there is the danger that the zero-setting operation cannot be performed because of engagement of the reset plate with the tipof the heart-shaped cam.

. Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide anelectromagnetic counter which may be driven by relatively small electricpower and manufactured in small size.

Another object of this invention is to provide an electromagneticcounter which may be reliably actuated at high speeds Still anotherobject of this invention is to provide a novel electromagnetic counterwhich may be accurately reset to the zero position.

A further, object of this invention is to provide an electromagneticcounter wherein the indicating member is locked so that it does notquiver during the counting operation, whereby the figures may be easilyvisible.

A still further object of this invention is to provide anelectromagnetic counter in which the force exerted upon each member ofthe device may be decreased to lengthen the life of the device.

These and other objects of this invention and the various features anddetail of the operation and construction thereof are hereinafter morefully set forth and described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electromagnetic counter in accordancewith this invention with an outer casing omitted;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an electromagnetic driving means as seenfrom the back side thereof in Fig. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the electromagnetic driving means and alower column portion with parts of dials broken away;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a higher column part with certain partsbroken away;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5, FIG. 3 with parts such aspins being deflected from their positions;

FIGS. 6a to 6d are plan views showing an operation of the transferringmechanism;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a zeroizing operation in the higher columnwith certain parts broken away; and

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the levers for zeroizing as viewed fromthe left of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, anelectromagnetic driving means comprises a solenoid 10 and an armature11, and being secured to the back side of a baseplate 12 at a core 13.The armature 11 is loosely fitted to two protrusions 14, 15 projectedfrom an end of a sideplate 16 secured to the baseplate 12 and core 13,and being urged to the end of the side plate 16 by a finger 17 of aspring plate 18 provided on the sideplate 16. The force of the springplate 18 is also exerted upon the armature to bias it upwardly as shownby the arrow in Fig. 3 to be held in fixed position. The electromagneticdriving means is also provided with a first pawl lever 19 secured to thearmature 11, a second pawl lever 20 rotatably mounted on a stationaryshaft 21 and a ratchet wheel 22 rotatably mounted on a stationary shaft23. In normal condition, the first pawl lever 19 is forced to apositioning pin 26 by a spring 24 as shown in Fig. 3.

The first pawl lever 19 has a first pawl 27 and a rod 28 and the secondpawl lever 20 has a second pawl 29. The second pawl lever 20 has aU-shaped form in section to enclose loosely the rod 28 and thesecond'pawl 29 is engaged with the ratchet wheel 22 by a spring 30.

When the solenoid 10 is actuated, the armature 11, that is the firstpawl lever 19 will be rotated about an edge 25 of the side plate 16 inthe counterclockwise direction against the biasing force of the spring24 to engage the rod 28 with the second pawl lever 20 to rotate it inthe counterclockwise direction, so that the second pawl 29 will beremoved from the ratchet wheel 22. Thereafter the first pawl 27 engageswith the ratchet wheel 22, which will cause the ratchet wheel to rotateslightly more than half-pitch angle. When the solenoid 10 isdeenergized, the first pawl lever 19 will be returned to the solid lineposition in FIG. 3. Following the first pawl lever 19 the second pawllever 20 returns to the solid line position, so that the second pawl 29will be engaged with the ratchet wheel 22 to rotate the ratchet wheelremaining angle of one pitch. Thus with this driving means the ratchetwheel 22 is caused to make one pitch rotation for every signal pulse fedto the solenoid 10 in the clockwise direction. The ratchet wheel 22 hasten notches to be rotated one full turn by ten signal pulses.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, on the stationary shaft 23, a gear 31 and agear supporting L-shaped lever 32 are rotatably mounted, and theL-shaped lever 32 is forced against an end 44 of a following L-shapedlever 51a of the first column by a spring 33. An intermediate gear 34rotatably mounted on a shaft 36 secured to the lever 32 is engaged withthe gear 31 and a gear 46a of the first column. The gear 46a is providedwith same number of teeth as that of the gear 31 to form l:l gearingbetween these gears.

Since each structure of the first column to the sixth column describedhereinafter is identical, the same reference numerals are used toidentify similar parts and a letter of the alphabet a to f is added tothe numeral to clarify the distinctions among the columns.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, shafts 35a, 35b and 350 are secured to thebaseplate 12 respectively. On each shaft L- shaped levers 51a, 51b and510, gears 46a, 46b and 460, and sleeves 56a, 56b and 560 are rotatablymounted respectively. The L-shaped levers 51a and 51b have shafts 37a,37b on which gears 47a, 48a, 47b, 48b, and levers 42a, 42b are rotatablymounted respectively. The levers 51a, 51b are adapted to be rotated bysprings 33a and 33b in the clockwise direction in FIG. 3 respectively,and the side of the lever 510 being engaged with the end of the lever51b to be held in the condition illustrated in FIG. 3. Each set of thegears 47a and 48a, and 47b and 48b is formed in integral piece, the gear47a is engaged with the gear 46a of the first column and the gear 480 isengaged with a gear 49b which is fixed to the gear 46b of the secondcolumn, and other gears are engaged in a similar manner respectively.The gears 46b and 49b are fixed to each other to form a counting gearassembly in the second column and rotated in accordance with a scale,for example decimal system in this embodiment, thus there is formed a :1reduction gearing between adjacent columns. On the flanges of thesleeves 56a, 56b and 56c, there are fixedly provided dials 38a, 38b and38c and pins 39a, 39b and 390. The pin 39a is secured to a disk 41 fixedto the gear 46a and the other pins 39b and 39c are adapted to engagewith pins 40b and 40c which are secured to the gears 49b and 49crespectively. An end of a coil spring 55b provided on the shaft 35b isengaged with the pin 39b and other end is engaged with the pin 40 b sothat both the pins draw and engage each other.

Each of levers 42a, 42b and 420 rotatably mounted on the shafts 37a, 37band 370 has a hook portion 60 at one end and an upward projection 61 atother end, and the projection 61 is biased to the dial by a spring 43 tobe engaged with any one of 10 notches 52 of the following dial exceptthe dial 38a of the first column. The hook portion 60 of the lever forexample 42b is positioned in the path of the pin 39b of the previouscolumn, so that the lever 42b is rotated by engagement of the pin 39bwith the hook portion in the counterclockwise direction during therotation of the dial which results in removing of the projection 61 fromthe notch 52 of the dial 380 of the following column.

When the gear 46a is rotated in the clockwise direction, the gear 49b isrotated in the same direction as the gear 46a through the gears 47a and48a, so that the spring 55b is wound up because the dial 38b is lockedby the projection 61 of the lever 42a. In transferring operation, whenthe lever 42a is rotated by the pin 39a, the dial 38b is released androtated clockwise by the spring 55b and arrested by abutment of the pin39b with the pin 40b, so that the dial is rotated one pitch.

This counter is provided with a zero-setting means. Referring to FIGS.3, 4 and 5 the zero-setting means comprises heart-shaped cams such as54a, 54b, 54c, 54f which are secured to the gears such as 46a. Areturning plate 76 is provided for free rotational movement on links 57and 58 rotatably mounted on pins 59 and 59 to form a parallel linkage,and bring removed from the heart-shaped cams by a spring 77 and held inthe position of FIG. 4 by engagement of the link 57 with a positioningpin 81.

In zero-setting, the returning plate 76 is moved to the heartshaped camsby the links 57 and 58 against a spring 77 so that an edge 53 of thereturning plate may be engaged with the cam. Levers 62, 63, 64 and 74are formed into parallel linkage for removing the engagement of gears.The levers 63 and 64 are rotatably mounted on shafts 65, 66 secured tothe baseplate 12, and on the levers 63 and 64, the lever 62 and 74 arepivotally carried by pins 78, 78 and 79 and 79 respectively. The lever62 has six hooks 80 as is clearly seen in FIG. 4. With respect to thefourth column, the hook 80 is adapted to engage with a lower increaseddiameter portion of a pin 67d fixed to the end of the lever, 51d.Movement of the lever 62 to the lower position shown in FIG. 7 causesthe hook 80 to engage with the pin 67d, so that the lever 51a is rotatedcounterclockwise about the shaft 35d, which in turn will cause the lever42d to rotate in the direction of the arrow together with the lever 51dabout the shaft 35d by engagement of an upper reduced diameter portionof the pin 67d with the end portion of the pin 95 ofthe lever 42d.

A lever 68 adjacent to the link 57 is adapted to rotate about a shaft 69secured to the baseplate 12 and a bent portion 82 being forced againstan edge 83 of the lever 62 by a spring 70 engaged with the bent portion82. The lever 68 is arranged to engage with the end of the link 57 andarrest the rotation thereof as hereinafter described. A spring 73provided between the lever 74 and a pin 84 on the baseplate 12 hasgreater tension than that of the spring 70 and causes the levers 63 and64 to rotate clockwise to engage the end of the lever 63 with a lever72, thereby the parallel linkage is held in the position of FIG. 4.Referring to FIG. 8, the lever 72 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 98secured to the sideplate 100 formed at the end of the baseplate 12 bybending, and a lever 71 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 75 and beingrotated in the clockwise direction by a spring 85 to engage with theside of the lever 72 at an end 87 thereof. Rotation of the lever 71 inthe direction of arrow 86 causes the lever 72 to rotate clockwise. Aside edge 88 of the lever 71 is formed in circular shape coaxial withthe shaft 75. Therefore, under the condition that the edge 88 engageswith the lever 72 as shown by the chain line 89, the lever 72 is notrotated through the lever 71 is rotated. The lever 71 is so arrangedthat an end 90 thereof can be engaged with the link 57 to rotate it inthe clockwise direction in FIG. 4 after the end 87 has passed the lever72 and hence the rotation of the lever 72 has finished.

In operation, as set forth above, upon every actuation of the lever 19of the electromagnetic driving means, the ratchet wheel 22 is rotatedone pitch in the clockwise direction in FIG. 3. Rotation of the ratchetwheel 22 causes the gear 46a and the dial 38a to rotate clockwise in 1:1rotational ratio. Thus the count of the signal pulse received by thesolenoid 10 is indicated by the dial 38a bearing figures 0 to 9.Clockwise rotational force of the ratchet wheel 22 to the gear 34 actsin cooperation with the force of the spring 33 to rotate the lever 32 inthe clockwise direction to be forced to the end 44 of the lever 51a, sothat proper and reliable engagement between the gear 34 and the gear4611 may be insured.

The transferring operation of this device will now be described withreference to FIGS. 6a to 6d. Reference numerals 92 and 93 designateindicating windows, hence FIG. 6a showing count 80. Under the conditionof FIG. 6a, the pin 39a of the first column is situated in the positionin advance of the lever 42a as viewed from the rotational direction ofarrow 91. The dial 38b of the second column is arrested by theengagement of the projection 61 of the lever 420 with the notch 52 andthe pins 39b and 40b engage each other. FIG. 6b shows the condition ofcount 89 after counting 8l to 88 from the condition of FIG. 6a. The pin39a is rotated nine pitches in the direction of the arrow 91 and locatednear the hook 60 of the lever 42a. The dial 38b is still held stationaryas a result of the engagement of the projection 61 with the notch 52 andthe pin 40b is rotated 9/10 pitch through the gearing thus serving toincrease the torsion of the spring 55b and hence energy is accumulatedin the spring. When the figure of the dial 380 engages changes from 9 to0 as shown in FIG. 60, the pin 39a engages with the hook 60 to rotatethe lever 42a in the direction of arrow 94, which results in release ofthe dial 38b. Thus the dial 38b is rotated by the rotational force inaccordance with the energy accumulated in the spring 55b and stopped byengagement of the pin 39b with the pin 4%. When one revolution of thedial 38a is completed, the pin 40b is advanced just one pitch from thecondition of FIG. 6a thus the figure of the dial 38b being advanced from8 to 9, which means count 90 as shown in FIG. 6d. At the same the lever42a returns to the same position as FIG. 6a and the projection 61engages with the notch 52 to lock the dial 38b. Transferring operationof the following column will be taken place in the similar way to theabove described manner. However, there is a difference that drivingforce of the electromagnetic driving means is exerted directly on thepin 39a to rotate the lever 42a'in the first column, but rotation of thelever such as 42b is accomplished by the energy accumulated in thespring 55b.

The operation of the zero-setting means will now be described referringto FIGS. 7 and 8. Rotating the lever 71 in the direction of the arrow 86by pushing the projected part 101, the lever 72 will be rotated byengagement of the end 87, which will cause the lever 63 to rotate to thechain line position 102 in FIG. 8. Rotation of the lever 63 causes thelever 62 to move from the chain line to the solid line in FIG. 7, sothat the pin, for example 67d, and hence the lever 51d is rotated byengagement of the hook 80 thereby the gear 48d will be removed from thegear 49e. These actuations are made in all of the columns at the sametime, thus gearings between all columns are disconnected from eachother, which means that each of the heart-shaped cams on the shafts 35ato 35f may be rotated. Therefore, the heart-shaped cam, for example cam54s is rotated by the spring 55e and stopped by abutment of the pin 402to the pin 39e integral with the dial 38c. Since the dial 38e is locatedin any one of the predetermined l0 positions corresponding to thefigures of the dial, the position of the heart-shaped cam 54a is limitedin the determined position.

Thereafter the lever 42d is also rotated together with the lever 51d bythe pin 67d as previously described so that the projection 61 is removedfrom the notch 52 of the dial 38e, thus the heart-shaped cam 54s and thedial 382 are combined by the spring 55e and can be freely rotatedtogether.

Further rotating the lever 71, the link 57 is rotated clockwise in FIG.7 to engage the plate 76 with the heartshaped cams. At this time, if theedge 97 of the plate 76 engages with the tip of the heart-shaped cam54e, it can not rotate the cam. However, as previously set forth, sincethe position where the cam can be located is determined, it is possibleto prevent the engagement of the edge 97 of the plate 76 with the tip byselecting the position of the cam. Thus the heart-shaped cam can berotated by the plate 76 so that each dial is reset in the zero position.

, Referring to FIG. 7, when the link 57 is rotated to the solid lineposition, the lever 68 is rotated by the spring 70 from the chain lineto the solid-line position, because the lever 62 has been located in thelower position shown by the solid line, thereby returning actuation ofthe link 57 by the spring 77 is arrested by the engagement of the end 96with the end of the lever 68. Thus the heart-shaped cams are held in thezero position and hence in the stable condition brought by engagement ofthe plate 76 with the notch of the heart-shaped cam. During this stablecondition, it is desirable to engage the intermediate gear such as 48dwith the gear such as 492. If the engagement of the intermediate gear istaken place under the unarrested condition of the heart-shaped cam, thezero position which has been obtained by the heart-shaped cam may bechanged. To perform the zeroizing, the operation is made in hereinafterdescribed order.

Returning of the lever 71 causes the lever 72 and 62 to return to thesolid line in FIGS. 4 and 8. During this operation, the lever, forexample 51d, is rotated clockwise, and firstly the projection 61 of thelever 42d engages with the notch 52 of the dial 38a to hold it in thezero position, secondarily the gear 48d will engage with the gear 492.Thereafter the lever 68 is rotated counterclockwise by the lever 62against the force of the spring 70, which in turn causes the link 57 tofree. Thus the link 57 is returned by the spring 77, all of the memberof this counter are returned to the initial state and each dialindicates figure zero in the window.

From the foregoing it will be observed that this invention provides anovel electromagnetic counter having indicating means which is easilyvisible, because the indicating means of higher columns than firstcolumn are locked during the counting operation in the first column. Inaddition, since energy for transferring is progressively accumulated insprings by reduction gearings and the driving means is not subjected tomomentary heavy load, the counter in accordance with this invention canbe driven by small torque. When torque necessary for accumulating theenergy in the spring of n-column is A, torque on the shaft of the firstcolumn corresponding to torque A is (l/l0"")A, because there areprovided 10:1 reduction gearings between columns. Since each torque A ofcolumns has a same value, total torque of the counter having n columnsis wherein A0 is the torque necessary for driving the members of thefirst column. Therefore if the driving means has a power sufficient todrive the second column with remaining power, the means will drive thecounter having a plurality of columns. Thus, in accordance with thisinvention it is possible to drive the counter by a driving means of lowpower at high speed.

Further, this invention has following advantages in the zerosettingmeans.

I l. Zero-setting operation is easily performed, because each column canbe freely rotated independently when operated.

2. Since the heart-shaped cam is stopped at the preferable positionwhere the returning plate does not engage with the tip of the cam, thezero-setting operation may be made in reliable manner.

3. Since the dial and the counting gear assembly are locked until theintermediate gear engages with the counting gear assembly, the zeroposition is not changed by the returning of the intermediate gear.

The electromagnetic counter in accordance with this invention may beapplied to a stop watch. More particularly the gearing between thecounting gear assemblies is composed in the same scale as the watch andconnecting the electromagnetic driving means with the oscillator havingstandard frequency.

While a particular embodiment of this invention has been illustrated anddescribed herein, it is not intended to limit the invention to such adisclosure, and changes and modifications may be incorporated andembodied therein within the scope of the following claims. For example,if the zero-setting means is not necessary, the ratchet wheel 22 may beformed integrally with the gear 46a omitting the intermediate gear 34.

We claim:

1. An electromagnetic counter comprising; electromagnetic driving meansactuated by a signal pulse, a ratchet wheel rotated by saidelectromagnetic driving means, a gear rotatable with said ratchet wheel,a reduction gearing engaged with said gear and including counting gearassemblies provided at every column and rotated in accordance with adesired scale, resilient members adapted to be deformed by the rotationof said counting gear assemblies to accumulate the kinetic energy,indicating members adapted to be rotated by the kinetic energyaccumulated in each resilient member, arresting members to arrest saidindicating members, locking means engageable with said indicatingmembers, and releasing members for actuating said locking means upontransfer to free the indicating member of the following column.

2. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 1 wherein eachresilient means comprises a coil spring provided coaxially with thecounting gear assembly and the ends thereof are engaged with thearresting member and the indicating member respectively.

3. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 1 wherein eachlocking means comprises a lever of which one end may be engaged with theindicating member and other end may be engaged with the releasingmember.

4. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 1 wherein eacharresting member comprises a pin secured to the counting gear assemblyand each resilient member is provided between the pin and a pin securedto the indicating member, so that the rotation of the indicating memberis arrested by engagement of the latter pin with the former pin.

5. An electromagnetic counter comprising; electromagnetic driving meansactuated by a signal pulse, a ratchet wheel rotated by saidelectromagnetic driving means, a gear rotatable with said ratchet wheel,a first column counting gear assembly rotated by said gear through adisengageable intermediate gear, a reduction gearing engaged with saidfirst column counting gear assembly, and including counting gearassemblies and disengageable intermediate gears provided at every columnwhereby each counting gear assembly may be rotated in accordance withdesired scales, resilient members adapted to be deformed by the rotationof said counting gear assemblies to accumulate the kinetic energy,indicating members adapted to be rotated by the kinetic energyaccumulated in each resilient member, arresting members to arrest saidindicating members, locking means engageable with said indicatingmembers, releasing members for actuating said each locking means upontransfer to free the indicating member of the following column,heart-shaped cams secured to the counting gear assemblies, removingmeans operable to disengage the intermediate gears and locking meansduring the zero-setting operation and zero-setting means adapted toengage with said heart-shaped cams after the disengagement'of theintermediate gears and locking means.

6. An electromagnetic counter comprising; electromagnetic driving meansactuated by a signal pulse, a ratchet wheel rotated by saidelectromagnetic driving means, a gear rotata ble with said ratchetwheel, a first column counting gear assembly rotated by said gearthrough a disengageable intermediate gear, a reduction gearing engagedwith said first column counting gear assembly and including countinggear assemblies and disengageable intermediate gears provided at everycolumn whereby each counting gear assembly may be rotated in accordancewith desired scales, resilient members adapted to be deformed by therotation of said counting gear assemblies to accumulate the kineticenergy, indicating members adapted to be rotated by the kinetic energyaccumulated in each resilient member, arresting members to arrest saidindicating members, locking means engageable with said indicatingmembers, releasing members for actuating said each locking means upontransfer to free the indicating member of the following column,heart-shaped cams secured to the counting gear assemblies, removingmeans operable to disengage the intermediate gears and locking meansduring zerosetting operation, zero-setting means adapted to engage withsaid heart-shaped cams after the disengagement of the intermediate gearsand locking means and means for locking said zero-setting means untilthe intermediate gears and locking means return.

7. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 wherein eachresilient means comprises a coil spring provided coaxially with thecounting gear assembly and the ends thereof are engaged with thearresting member and the indicating member respectively.

8. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 wherein eachlocking means comprises a lever of which one end may be engaged with theindicating member and other end may be engaged with the releasingmember.

9. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 wherein eacharresting members comprises a pin secured to the counting gear assemblyand each resilient member is provided between the pin and a pin securedto the indicating member, so that the rotation of the indicating memberis arrested by engagement of the latter pin with the former pin.

10. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 wherein thelocking means is adapted to be disengaged from the indicating memberafter the intermediate gear has been disengaged from the counting gearassembly in the zerosetting operation.

1. An electromagnetic counter comprising; electromagnetic driving meansactuated by a signal pulse, a ratchet wheel rotated by saidelectromagnetic driving means, a gear rotatable with said ratchet wheel,a reduction gearing engaged with said gear and including counting gearassemblies provided at every column and rotated in accordance with adesired scale, resilient members adapted to be deformed by the rotationof said counting gear assemblies to accumulate the kinetic energy,indicating members adapted to be rotated by the kinetic energyaccumulated in each resilient member, arresting members to arrest saidindicating members, locking means engageable with said indicatingmembers, and releasing members for actuating said locking means upontransfer to free the indicating member of the following column.
 2. Anelectromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 1 wherein eachresilient means comprises a coil spring provided coaxially with thecounting gear assembly and the ends thereof are engaged with thearresting member and the indicating member respectively.
 3. Anelectromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 1 wherein each lockingmeans comprises a lever of which one end may be engaged with theindicating member and other end may be engaged with the releasingmember.
 4. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 1 whereineach arresting member comprises a pin secured to the counting gearassembly and each resilient member is provided between the pin and a pinsecured to the indicating member, so that the rotation of the indicatingmember is arrested by engagement of the latter pin with the former pin.5. An electromagnetic counter comprising; electromagnetic driving meansactuated by a signal pulse, a ratchet wheel rotated by saidelectromagnetic driving means, a gear rotatable with said ratchet wheel,a first column counting gear assembly rotated by said gear through adisengageable intermediate gear, a reduction gearing engaged with saidfirst column counting gear assembly, and including counting gearassemblies and disengageable intermediate gears provided at every columnwhereby each counting gear assembly may be rotated in accordance withdesired scales, resilient members adapted to be deformed by the rotationof said counting gear assemblies to accumulate the kinetic energy,indicating members adapted to be rotated by the kinetic energyaccumulated in each resilient member, arresting members to arrest saidindicating members, locking means engageable with said indicatingmembers, releasing members for actuating said each locking means upontransfer to free the indicating member of the following column,heart-shaped cams secured to the counting gear assemblies, removingmeans operable to disengage the intermediate gears and locking meansduring the zero-setting operation and zero-setting means adapted toengage with said heart-shaped cams after the disengagement of theintermediate gears and locking means.
 6. An electromagnetic countercomprising; electromagnetic driving means actuated by A signal pulse, aratchet wheel rotated by said electromagnetic driving means, a gearrotatable with said ratchet wheel, a first column counting gear assemblyrotated by said gear through a disengageable intermediate gear, areduction gearing engaged with said first column counting gear assemblyand including counting gear assemblies and disengageable intermediategears provided at every column whereby each counting gear assembly maybe rotated in accordance with desired scales, resilient members adaptedto be deformed by the rotation of said counting gear assemblies toaccumulate the kinetic energy, indicating members adapted to be rotatedby the kinetic energy accumulated in each resilient member, arrestingmembers to arrest said indicating members, locking means engageable withsaid indicating members, releasing members for actuating said eachlocking means upon transfer to free the indicating member of thefollowing column, heart-shaped cams secured to the counting gearassemblies, removing means operable to disengage the intermediate gearsand locking means during zero-setting operation, zero-setting meansadapted to engage with said heart-shaped cams after the disengagement ofthe intermediate gears and locking means and means for locking saidzero-setting means until the intermediate gears and locking meansreturn.
 7. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 whereineach resilient means comprises a coil spring provided coaxially with thecounting gear assembly and the ends thereof are engaged with thearresting member and the indicating member respectively.
 8. Anelectromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 wherein each lockingmeans comprises a lever of which one end may be engaged with theindicating member and other end may be engaged with the releasingmember.
 9. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 whereineach arresting members comprises a pin secured to the counting gearassembly and each resilient member is provided between the pin and a pinsecured to the indicating member, so that the rotation of the indicatingmember is arrested by engagement of the latter pin with the former pin.10. An electromagnetic counter in accordance with claim 5 wherein thelocking means is adapted to be disengaged from the indicating memberafter the intermediate gear has been disengaged from the counting gearassembly in the zero-setting operation.